


Stalling

by Huggle



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: First Date, M/M, Protective Dominick Sonny Carisi Jr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggle/pseuds/Huggle
Summary: It’s their first date, and it isn’t over until Rafael is back in his apartment, door closed, Sonny heading home.Neither of them is in any rush.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 65
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Stalling

When it becomes obvious that Sonny is going to see him safely inside, Barba doesn’t tease him.

The instinct to do so is strong, but he bites down on it. If it were anybody else, he probably wouldn’t hold back, but there’s something so earnest about Carisi that he can tell it’s not a play with him.

It’s not about hoping he’ll be asked up to Rafael’s apartment, or maybe get a chance for a doorstep kiss and a feel.

It’s a genuine desire to make sure he gets home okay, and not just to the steps leading into the vestibule, or to the elevator.

Barba knows the stats as well as his associate. And yes, there’s a part of him that scowls and grumbles at the thought of being relegated to the role of damsel to be protected, but there’s another side that, surprisingly, has no problem with Sonny just making certain of his safety.

Because while he knows Sonny cares, being a genuinely decent person, Rafael wants to take it as a sign that he _cares_ and, Lord help him, that is a sign of something else.

But it also means that their date isn’t over yet. It won’t be until Barba’s apartment door shuts with him on one side and Carisi on the other, so he slows his steps, making Carisi slow down too.

Not that the detective had been exactly rushing.

“I had a good night,” Sonny says, and Barba watches him eyeing the approaching apartment building with a frown. “That was a really good restaurant.”

“Mmm,” Barba says. It was; he eats there a lot, usually a table for one, but tonight, somehow, it all seemed...well, better than normal. Perhaps he’s just forgotten that not eating alone is more enjoyable than his own company for a meal. 

And that was hardly the most encouraging of responses, but Barba suddenly feels the awkwardness between them. It wasn’t there earlier, not even when Carisi picked him up at the start of the night, so why it’s there now…

Carisi opens the door for him, tails him inside, then to the elevator. They ride up in silence, and the detective hangs back as Barba opens the door. He follows Barba in, and then does a thorough walk through, the ADA hanging back and watching.

Again, his wicked tongue threatens to _snik_ Carisi (it’ll cut you too, one of those days, his mother always says), but it’s easily curbed. 

After all, it was only yesterday that somebody left a message on his home answering machine, telling him he was being watched, and maybe one day soon, maybe the very next day, they’d do more than just tailing him everywhere.

The hornets’ nest he took a stick oo hasn’t settled yet, and he’s resigned himself to getting stung, badly, at some point.

But not tonight, because Carisi returns to his side, satisfied.

“It’s okay,” he says. “Uh,,,Rafael. So I guess,...goodnight.”

Rafael nods, and then there’s that moment where Carisi lingers, close enough to kiss him, to pull him forward gently and cup his chin and tilt his head back enough to counter those few inches in height between them.

Then he doesn’t, and he’s walking to the door.

“Detective,” Rafael says, and he can hear the amused huff from the other man. 

“Yeah?” Carisi turns, and Rafael knows he’s trying to be a gentleman here, trying to push down any other reason he might have for accompanying him up here.

It’s been about protecting him, being a good...date...dinner companion….oh, fuck it.

It’s not like Barba doesn’t know where this is headed, where they’re headed, where they have been since the first time Sonny said something that made Barba properly notice him.

He’s ridiculously turned on by the fact that Sonny might want more than just to see him safely home, but still put that first, even now when he’s stumbling a little over it.

“Why don’t I put on some coffee,” Barba says. “It’s still not that late.”

Well, it is, especially since he has to be at the office early tomorrow because he knows Elllie Barnes is going to need some last minute hand holding before she tells a jury just what she saw in the alley out back of her house six months ago, but he’s been running on coffee and stubbornness since high school.

His reward is the most dazzling shy smile from the detective, and he allows himself an eye roll, his first of the night.

“Yeah, I’d like that. Coffee...coffee sounds great.”

He leaves Carisi to close and lock the door, put the chain on, and heads to the kitchen to turn on the machine.


End file.
